If you think today’s Swedish women are hot, take a look at their ancestors. New research shows that Viking women did in fact dress in a provocative manner. The historic Scandinavian beauties combined Nordic with oriental styles, adorning themselves in bright colors, silk ribbons and small glittering mirrors.

Until recently, historians believed that Viking women dressed conservatively. The new findings are based on research headed up by archaeologist Annika Larsson, done in the Russian region of Pskov near Novgorod, an area that Swedish Vikings used as an Eastern trade route.

An exhibition on the new view of clothing and other cultural aspects of the Viking age is now on display at Uppsala University’s Gustavianum Museum, and running through September 14, 2008. If you’re planning on being in Sweden between now and September, it might be worth a stop; what could be hotter than Viking history?